How the World Uses Contraception

Around the world, approximately half of all women of reproductive age and their partners are using contraceptive methods, up from one third in 1970. According to a study by The Lancet, the type of contraception used varies by country and region.

Long-acting methods, like IUDs, injections, implants and female sterilization hint at more married or partnered couples using contraception to prevent pregnancy as opposed to younger or unmarried people who more often opt for short-term methods like pills or condoms. This is especially visible for regions South Asia, where female sterilization is the preferred contraception method, developing Asia Pacific, which favors IUDs, and Sub-Saharan Africa, where international aid organizations have established the use of implants or injections. While male sterilization is just as functional a long-acting contraceptive method, its global prevalence stood at 2.8 percent opposite 26.6 percent for female sterilization.

Western Europe is the region most in favor of short-term methods. The picture is more mixed in the Americas, North Africa and the Middle East as well as Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where both long and short-acting methods are prevalent. While countries in the Americas opt for more female sterilization, other long-acting methods are more common in the latter two regions, which also have the highest share of less secure, traditional contraceptive methods, including breastfeeding, withdrawal and calendar methods. In both of these regions, many countries show a high prevalence of the withdrawal method, revealing a lack of sex education and access to functional methods for younger people. The study general warns against relying too much on a single method of contraception and instead suggests that countries offer a wide range of long and short-acting methods to ensure that people find the right fit for them.

African regions have the lowest contraception rates at around one quarter to one third of women of reproductive age and their partners in 2019. Western Europe has the highest rate at three quarters, followed by developed North America and Latin America and the Caribbean at around two thirds.

September 26 marks World Contraception Day.